Tourist map illustration: Fredrikstad Fortress Town

Fredrikstad Fortress Town has been illustrated several times during the last 400 years and now Visit Fredrikstad & Hvaler entrusted us with this prestigous task. It has been the most extensive and fun illustration job we have done this far.

Fredrikstad in Norway was founded in 1567 during the reign of the King Frederik II. The Old Town is a fortified town by the river Glomma with trenches around it in the shape of half a star. The Old Town has been depicted by artists and illustrators several times during its exixtence. Even though it hasn’t changed much, Visit Fredrikstad & Hvaler asked us to make an updated version of the town map. The illustration is used in a brochure for tourists to find their way around town. The brocure has been translated to English and German.

Process: The illustration started with an isometric grid where we mapped out the streets. Each building was drawn in Illustrator. The squares were printed out and handdrawn to get the right angles and fit. The drawings were then scanned, vectorized and coloured and placed square by square into the grid. The trees and trenches were added last.